Between FC Metz and Senegal, it’s already an old story. In a distant affiliation with the late Jules Bocandé, the famous Metz striker of the 1980s, young Senegalese have been breaking in regular waves on Lorraine for twenty years.
Papiss Cissé, Diafra Sakho, Sadio Mané, Ismaïla Sarr… So much for the most famous of them. However, the Lorraine club can be proud of having detected, trained, imported and launched more than thirty pros thanks to its unique partnership with Génération Foot, the academy founded in Dakar in 2000 by Mady Touré.
A bottle class full of promise
The Messins “made in Senegal” today are called Habib Diallo (just transferred to Strasbourg against 10 million euros), 25 years old, Ibrahima Niane (author of 6 goals in 6 days, he unfortunately broke cruciate ligaments of the knee and will be absent for several months), 21, Lamine Gueye, 22, and Papa Ndiaga Yade, 20.
They are also Cheick Sabaly, 21, loaned to Pau (L2), Amadou Dia N’diaye, 20, and Ababacar Lo, 20, both loaned to RFC Seraing (2nd Belgian division), a subsidiary club of FC Metz. Finally, the very latest arrivals are Ousmane Ba, a 20-year-old goalkeeper, and Pape Matar Sarr, a barely 18-year-old midfielder already coveted by the whole of Europe …
The beautiful story begins in 2000, when Mady Touré, 62 years old today, an ex-pro stopped by an injury, convinced Carlo Molinari, the historic president of FC Metz, to support him financially in his project. The academy starts small with ten young people, on sandy ground and without dedicated accommodation. However, the first players are emerging. In particular a certain Emmanuel Adebayor, Togolese striker who arrives in Metz at the age of 15 and whose career will take him to Monaco, Arsenal, City and Real…
Bernard Serin succeeded Carlo Molinari in 2009 but the current also passes between Presidents Serin and Touré. Their partnership is growing. In 2011, Sadio Mané, 19, in turn put his suitcase down in Metz (2011). The sequel will take him to the roof of Europe with Liverpool, via Salzburg (2012) and Southampton (2014).
Like a Ligue 2 club
“At first, we brought in players like Adebayor, Babacar Guèye or Papiss Cissé when they were very young,” explains Philippe Gaillot, deputy general manager of FC Metz. They spent three or four years at the training center and by 18-19 they were ready for the pros. On the other hand, when the Fifa regulations evolved (Editor’s note: drastically restricting transfers of minors, at the end of 2009), we were not armed in Dakar to train the players on the spot until they were 18 years old. That’s why we had to finish their training here. Sadio Mané had to work two years before being able to train with the pros. Ismaïla Sarr (Editor’s note: 22 years old, Metz, Rennes, Watford) was the first to arrive (in 2016) and to be operational immediately. “
Between the “Mané” and “Sarr” promotions, the academy has changed dimension. In September 2013, Génération Foot received new facilities, similar to those of a Ligue 2 club. In Deni Birame Ndao (35 km from Dakar), not far from Lac Rose where the Paris-Dakar finish was once judged, the activity is becoming more professional and intensifying.
Today, 40 local recruiters crisscross Senegal in order to bring back in their nets the small footballers with high potential. The resident enters pre-training at 12 years old at the earliest, while following his schooling on site. Around 15-16 years old, he switches to the pro group of around forty players and does not take long to play with the first team, champion of Senegal in 2017 and 2019.
“The team plays an offensive game, very positive, explains Olivier Perrin, the manager of the training structures of FC Metz, stationed in Senegal between 2013 and 2018. As there are 4 to 5 starts per year, it is necessary to supply the group of 4 to 5 new players per year, without going down. Being champion is good, but the idea is to help our youngest players advance, so that they go to Europe with a real background of adult football. “
A win-win partnership
This was the case with Niane, recruited late at 15, launched in the first team at 16 and arrived in Metz at 18 and a half, after finishing the 2016-2017 season Senegal’s all-time top scorer – 19 goals in 18 games. Once at the Grenats, his post-training lasted another two and a half years but directly within the pro group.
Latest example: Pope Matar Sarr, 18 years and 1 month old. He played his first Senegalese L1 match at 15. He was on the bench in Metz for the first time against Angers in Ligue 1 on Sunday (1-1), only fifteen days after his arrival.
Is Generation Foot akin to a relocated production unit from which Metz would derive the greatest profits from the sale of players? “When a player arrived, we never reasoned by saying to ourselves: Hey, him, we’re going to sell him 40 million euros in two years, argues Gaillot. Rather, we wonder when it will be operational and help us performer. Afterwards, it turns out that for some time, these players are the ones who have developed the fastest and have enabled us to achieve a lot of sales, which are essential to our financial balance. But we remain in this reality which places sporting goals at the top. “
100% success in the bac
For his part, Perrin underlines the contribution of the structure to “the social development of the region”: the jobs created on site, the 110 to 120 students enrolled with 100% success in the bac and even certain files directed towards American universities.
“There are the visible successes and then there are those of a lot of players who make a career in small clubs or in secondary championships,” continues Perrin. Still others return to Senegalese society with a qualification. In Metz, Ame Sylla, from Generation Foot, failed to have been injured three times to the three cruciate ligaments. Today, he is a night watchman at the training center and coach at the football school. And it is a real pride that he can live from his passion differently. “
